The Lonely prince's mate

Flashback #2

Jeff POV

Twenty one years ago…

The castle grew larger as we charged towards it, I had never truly realised how incredibly menacing it looked. In the dark, the turrets jutted up, piercing the night sky with their spires. The colossal size of the building leaving the entire kingdom in the darkness of its shadow.

Shrieks and screams came from every direction, but it was the cries of the children that truly broke my heart. Everyone was instructed not to harm anyone unless absolutely necessary, the task of murder was going to be left to myself, Graham and Terrence, but the fear that was being distilled within the kingdom could not be avoided.

As we arrived at the castle gate, our warriors were already well into their fight with the castle’s garrison. I managed to squeeze past and into an open backdoor without anyone noticing, along with Graham and Terence.

We began to gingerly walk up the curved, stone staircase that waited behind the door, not knowing where it led. It was eerily quiet in the castle, compared to all the battle noises that travelled in from outside. The only noises that could be heard were the thuds of our heavy footsteps on the stony floors as we ascended.

I readied my silver knife in one hand and a dagger in the other, the other two behind me preparing themselves with their own weapons as we reached the top of the gloomy staircase and into a candlelit hallway.

The walls were lined with portraits, and red velvet flags, with the royal seal embroidered on them hung proudly from the ceiling, every couple of metres.

We walked ten feet before reaching a crossroad, corridors led to the left and right, while the hallway in front seemed to continue. I indicated towards the left with a nod of my head, Graham and Terence nodding in agreement. We opened every door slowly, all empty before turning back and taking the right corridor, again all of the rooms were empty.

We walked further along the wider passage, opening every door we passed carefully, until we reached the room I had been searching for.

I stepped into the room, the unmistakable smell of blood and birth hung in the air. A woman with long, sweaty, matted blonde hair was sat up in a four poster bed, resting against some pillows.

“So you’re the w***e who he left my sister for?” I sneered at the woman.

There was no doubt, she was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, even in her current, exhausted state, she was like an angel here on Earth. Her bright blue eyes shone as she glared at me.

Even though there was no mistaking that this was a birthing room, and she had obviously just given birth to the new prince or princess, they were nowhere to be found in this room.

“All of this…” The woman indicated with a wave of her hand. “Because of that? It was over ten years ago.”

“She was his mate.” I shouted at her.

“I AM HIS MATE!” She stated sternly.

“No, you were just the cheap w***e who seduced him!”

“You know how this works Jeffrey. The king got more than one mate, he chose the one that he was more drawn to. The moon goddess would have gifted your sister with a second chance…If she had only waited.” The queen said the last words with a tone of regret.

“Mother…Mother…Mother…” A young boy’s worried voice grew closer as he ran towards the room where myself, Graham and Terence were standing.

My body turned just in time to see the blonde haired boy run into Terence as he turned the corner into the room. His blue eyes shot open as he stumbled back, blood beginning to seep through the white dress shirt he was wearing.

Looking at the long, thick blade in Terence’s trembling hand, I noticed that the silver was now obscured with the crimson blood of the young prince.

“NO!”

“I…I…He…It was an acci…I didn’t mean to…” Terrence mumbled shakily, tears beginning to pool in his eyes.

The queen wailed as her son crumpled to the floor holding his chest, his blood seeping out of his body and coating his small hands. 

This had been the plan all along, kill the heir to the throne, but witnessing it first hand was devastating. I knew the boy was barely ten, he hadn’t lived his life and now it was disappearing in front of my eyes. I watched in sympathy as the young prince’s life source depleted, the shrieks and sobs from his mother making me wince. I had never considered myself as cruel, but the thought that I had been preparing to do this intentionally to such a small child sickened me.

“I’m sorry.” I managed to choke out and left the room, my beta and gamma hot my heel.

I stalked through the corridor, not knowing what direction I was going in. My eyes searched in every direction, I had to find the newly born heir.

“We need a new plan…” I announced. “I am not willing to kill a new-born.”

“We could keep it, raise it within our pack.”

“No…” I shook my head. “It would be the first place they looked, one of us would have to run with the pup.”

“I will, I am the beta…” Gray proudly volunteered. “I will take on the responsibility.”

“And how would you explain having a child to your future mate?” I asked with a raised eyebrow as I began to tap on the wooden panels, that decorated the walls of this particular corridor.

“That it’s my niece or nephew.” He shrugged. “The child of my deceased sister. No one would question it.”

I nodded, turning my attention to the change of sound as I knocked on another panel. I pressed a hand on either side of the panel, the right side letting out a small click and opening slightly.

I ducked under the frame, the other two following my action and was at the top of yet another staircase, this one looked older. It’s steps were still stone, but each step was uneven and was less meticulously  carved out than the other set. The steps were small, it definitely wasn’t built for the large feet of an adult male werewolf, I started to descend taking each step at a sideways angle.

Finally at the last step and we were in another long corridor, five doors stood in the walls, two on each side and one at the far end. The first door on the left was an obvious vault, the large gear like lock being the first thing you noticed in the corridor.

We opened the door opposite, lights blinking at us as we looked into the electrical room. I closed the door on the humming monitors and opened the door next to it.

“A toilet?” Graham asked, confused. “Who the hell has a toilet next to an electric room and safe?”

“The royals obviously.” I rolled my eyes as Terence answered his brother.

I opened the door to the door opposite the toilet, stepping into the largest store room I had ever seen, years’ worth of food, toiletries and other essentials were stocked tidily away. We all rushed into the room, closing the door quietly behind us as we heard feminine hushed whispers coming down the stairway.

We heard the dainty footsteps pass the room we were hidden in, and the door at the end of the corridor begin to open, Graham slowly opened the door, peering through the small crack he had created. ‘Babies’ he mouthed as he turned with excited wide eyes.

We stepped out from the room as quietly as we could, Terry grabbing the nearest female and the small bundle she was holding, Gray jamming open the door they were entering and myself ordering them all to ‘get in and sit down!’.

I inspected the three quivering women in front of us, each holding a sleeping baby, swaddled in fine linen. Looking down at the three slumbering infants, they all appeared to be the same age, I couldn’t differentiate which one was the new heir to the throne.

“What are we going to do? Which one’s the royal baby?” Graham asked, panicked.

“I don’t know, I can’t tell.” I mumbled. “We’ll have to take all three.”

All three women whimpered, holding their chosen child closer to their chest. I watched as they all tried to scurry backwards, but their backs were already against the cold stone wall.

“Hand over the children and no harm will come to you.” I ordered, but the women pulled the bundles in ever closer to themselves. “We will take them by force if we need to.” I warned.

I ripped the pink bundle out of the middle she wolf’s arms, ignoring her panicked cry, hearing the same shriek from the other side as Gray took the remaining child.

We were almost out of the room, when we turned to the sound that I can only liken to that of a battle cry, all three women charging at us, claws out with demented looks on their faces.

I took out my blade from my hip where it had been sheathed, whipping it across the throat of the closest woman to me, as both Gray and Terry stared on helplessly. Thankfully I was faster than the women, the true speed of an alpha aiding me with that. I quickly cut through the woman that was lunging at Gray as he protectively cradled the new born to his chest and spun to slice through the other woman’s abdomen as Terry shook in his boots.

We were out of the castle and halfway across the field that led back towards the forest, when I doubled over in pain. Terry grabbed the still sleeping child from my arms as I dropped to my knees, the pain in my side slowly working towards my heart.

“Carole. I need to find Carole.” I gasped as the pain to my heart grew ever more sharper.

I rose to my feet, trying to ignore the agony I was in, desperately trying to sense my mate’s scent as I staggered further toward the forest. That is where I had told her to stay, and that is where she had stayed as I saw her helpless body lying on the churned up ground, a few feet away. I dropped to my knees as I reached her, holding onto her bloody hand as she struggled for breath.

“The heir is dead my love…” I said, laying a soft kiss on the back of the hand I clasped. “And I have the new born royal.”

I saw her glance behind me as I indicated to the three babies.

“Three?” She wheezed.

“We couldn’t be sure which one was the royal, so we took all of them.” I said softly.

“The…Curr..en…t…Heir?” She struggled, asking what I had already answered.

“Gone my love. The king will regret what he has done to our family.” I smiled down at her, a tear leaving my eye as I spoke.

“You cannot kill them…” She weakly pointed towards the children. “They are just babies, think if it were Angelica.”

I watched the tears that fell from her eyes roll down the side of her face and hit the ground, mixing with her blood. Her breathing was beginning to slow, her chest no longer putting in as much effort to keep her alive as it had been just minutes ago.

“I promise, I will not kill them. But I have to take them away, Ayhan has to suffer the way we have all these years.”

She opened her mouth, but no words came, replacing them with a nod she slowly closed her eyes. I felt her hand squeeze mine tightly once, before falling limply from my grasp and hitting the blood soaked mud with a thud.

Suddenly, our mate bond broke and it was like the worst conceivable feeling. The physical pain was excruciating, like my heart was being pulled apart in ten different directions, while it still beat within my chest. But it was the mental pain that drove a man to insanity, every single memory bombarded my brain at once, reminding me of what I had just lost, what I would never experience again. There was no break as image after image flashed through the forefront of my mind, it seemed like hours before they began to slow and I could start to regain some of my senses.

“Yes, king Ayhan will certainly pay for all that he has taken from me.” I muttered to myself as I choked on a rogue sob.

“I have lost too much to this family. We will each take one of these little parasites…” I snarled at Gray and Terry. “And run to different sides of the country, to keep them from the bastard that has caused all of this.”

I looked to Terry who nodded, stiffly holding the two bundles tightly, then my eyes moved to Gray who nodded too, while he held his baby close to him.

“I’ll look after her…” He started. “But don’t ask me to take on the role of doting father.” He said, surprising me, the way he looked down at the child lovingly, I thought he was ready to adopt her, right here and now.

“That’s fine by me…” I replied. “Just make sure she stays out of the hands of Ayhan.”

And with one final nod, we all went our separate ways.